Collingwood coach Craig McRae is uncertain of the return timeframe for premiership midfielder Jordan De Goey, who is again dealing with a groin issue that has left him looking "really sore".
De Goey was pulled from the Magpies' side to face Richmond over the weekend after failing to get through a fitness test on Saturday, with the onballer dealing with a groin issue that hampered an earlier period of his season.
McRae noted after the win over the Tigers that the 28-year-old was looking limited earlier in the week, with De Goey no certainty to return to the side when Collingwood face rivals Carlton for an enticing blockbuster affair this weekend.
The Magpies coach is hopeful the week off could be what's needed for De Goey's ongoing ailment, with the club to have a stronger grasp on the extent of the issue in the coming days.
"It's an unknown one. It's difficult, I don't know how to comment on it and it's difficult to know what's going on there for me," McRae said.
"He looked really sore this week. He's been looking really sore early in the week and we're de-loading him and running straight lines and getting him to the line, but this week he looked really sore, so we'll work through that.
"'Ongoing' would be the way I describe it at the moment.ย Each week seems to start in the same place, maybe not playing this week might help us start in a different place.
"We'll wait and see on that."
De Goey's late omission from the team meant veteran Scott Pendlebury started the game against Richmond, having initially been planned to be named as the tactical sub in his 399th game in the black and white.
But with De Goey's replacement, Joe Richards (illness), also a late withdrawal, McRae was required to name the champion veteran on-field and hope for a chance to rest Pendlebury in the later stages of the match ahead of a six-day break and his upcoming milestone match.
"I wanted to start Pendles as the sub, but when Jordy went out - along with other moving parts - we thought with his load management and with a six-day break coming up (we'd sub him out)," McRae revealed.
"He's got a big game coming up next week too, which is a pretty small milestone for him (laughs).
"We wanted to get in a position where hopefully we could sub him out, and three-quarter time presented it."
The 26-point win over Richmond saw the Magpies snap a four-game losing run and remain in reach of the top eight with four rounds to go, with McRae satisfied with the response to last week's loss to Hawthorn.
Captain Darcy Moore was among the reigning premiers' top performers at the MCG over the weekend, with McRae going as far as to say it was his skipper's best outing "for a long time".
"I thought it was Darcy's best game for a long time," McRae said when asked about the response from his leaders after last week's loss.
"13 intercept possessions and I think he had close to the same amount of spoils, but he just looked back at his best. Going for the ball, strong contests.
"You've got to start at the top. Start with me and other parts of our game. Credit to them, the leaders and others. We're not shying away from wanting to be a better version of ourselves.
"It starts early in the week and today was exam day. We passed this test."
Collingwood host Carlton at the MCG this Saturday night at 7:30pm (AEST), with more than 90,000 fans expected to attend Pendlebury's 400th game.
